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Chelsea Wins in Europa League

Chelsea began its Europa League campaign with a 1-0 first-leg win at Sparta Prague on Thursday night on Oscar’s goal in the 82nd minute. After winning the Champions League for the first time last May, Chelsea was eliminated in the group stage this season and fell into the less prestigious — and less lucrative — Europa League.

Tottenham defeated Lyon, 2-1, after Gareth Bale scored on free kicks in the injury time periods of both the first and second halves. Liverpool lost, 2-0, at Zenit St. Petersburg, which got goals from Hulk in the 70th minute and Sergei Semak in the 72nd.

Another Russian team, Rubin Kazan, stunned the defending champion, Atlético Madrid, with a 2-0 away win. Napoli was upset at home, 3-0, by Viktoria Plzen of the Czech Republic.

¶ The United States dropped four spots to No. 32 in the world rankings after losing a World Cup qualifier at Honduras. Spain led the rankings, and Nigeria moved up 22 places to No. 30 after its victory in last weekend’s Africa Cup of Nations final.

A version of this brief appears in print on February 15, 2013, on page B15 of the New York edition with the headline: Europa Win for Chelsea. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe